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How Did The Enlightenment Influence The American Revolution

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The Enlightenment was a period of time in which revolutions are bound to take place. When new thinking arises within a population, sooner or later people will begin to question authority and make their own decisions on government, laws, religion, and the way life is lived in general. As soon as influential thinkers such as Montesquieu Rousseau, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, and many others began spreading their new ways of thinking with the rest of the people under British control, the American Revolution was born. Enlightenment thinkers such as these used their work to influence colonists to break away from Britain’s control and create a new form of American government. New ideas of government and thoughts of rebellion were …show more content…

Ratified on July 4, 1776, this document is basically an announcement or explanation used to sever all ties from Great Britain. In the document, Thomas Jefferson lists all the colonial grievances against King George III. He then makes it clear that all humans should have certain rights that cannot be taken away, known as unalienable rights. One of the most famous quotes in The Declaration of Independence stated by Thomas Jefferson makes these unalienable rights clear. He says, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This quote, along with the entire document, is extremely influential do to the fact that it gave colonist a sense of freedom and importance. These unalienable rights gave them a feel of independence that we still celebrate today. The Declaration of Independence was also the end of the American Revolution, signifying their final victory against Great Britain. In addition, The Declaration of Independence also laid the groundwork for the American government. The morals and rights written in the document set up how American would be run and how the government would treat the people living

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The Enlightenment is a period of time during the 17th and 18th century that brought forth many new, revolutionary ideas regarding social, political, and economic issues. Such ideas aided the founding fathers in their creation of a new government that would soon be the United States of America. Two of these founders, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, differed in their political reasoning. For example, while Jefferson believes that the people “can be trusted with their own government,” Hamilton argues that the people “seldom judge or determine right.” Hamilton favored a type of government that would put a select few (the rich) in charge of the people, while Jefferson favored a government that would put the people in total control.

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The Enlightenment and the Great Awakening impacted the colonial society in several ways. The American Enlightenment stemmed from the movement in Europe. It enabled the colonists to become free thinkers and allowed them to consider fee will. First, the affects of the Enlightenment caused both unity and discourse in religion. Most colonists either reject or accept the ideas.

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The Declaration of Independence (1776) was written to state the grievances of the American colonists and to declare their movement for independence from Great Britain. By doing so , Jefferson informs the public of their intentions, in hope to find some support for their independence by striking a chord in issues that other nations may also have. In his historical essay, The Declaration of Independence, in order to demonstrate Thomas Jefferson uses negative connotations, syllogisms, and anaphora in order to demonstrate the discontent of the American colonists with British sovereignty, and the events that led to their desire for a new government run by the people for the people in order to justify colonial independence. Thomas Jefferson’s implements negative connotations in order to appeal to the logic present throughout human history, that people are born free and have the right to do what makes them happy. In the second paragraph of the document, Jefferson argues, “To prove this, let facts be submitted...”

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The Enlightenment and American Revolution resulted in the people believing that their government, or ruler, should protect the people’s rights, including the right to overthrow a government that fails to do so. Enlightenment thinker, John Locke, contributed considerably to the growth of the U.S. by influencing the founders in their making of the constitution, which supported John Locke’s and other Enlightenment thinkers’ ideas for government guidelines. One of the two compromises was the Great Compromise, which created a bicameral government with equally represented states in the senate and by population in the House of Representatives. The second was the Three-Fifths Compromise. The Three-Fifths Compromise served to allow the government

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The declaration of independence states that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights”. What Thomas Jefferson meant by that is, we have rights that cannot be taken away by anyone, not even the government. John Locke had an influence this by stating, “Men have rights by their nature… We give up our

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The ideas of the Enlightenment influenced the American Revolution and the formation of the American Government. Firstly, The Enlightenment was a philosophical evolution that emphasized the aged ideas of the Greeks and Romans. In addition, the major philosophers of this time period were Voltaire, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Rousseau, Adam Smith and Isaac Newton. Their ideals include having an absolute monarch as a government (T.H), the separation of powers (Mont.), the government should not interfere with a free market economy (A.S), the freedom of speech (Volt.), the government could be overruled (J.L), and the government should rule according to the will of the people. Nevertheless, these ideals are important because they shaped the government that we have today.

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As a result of the rights proclaimed combined with the facts they provided previously, Thomas Jefferson declares with all the words: “We, therefore, the Representatives of The United States of America […] by the authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right to be Free and Independent States;” It was, with all the certainty, a courageous move to sign the Declaration of Independence. It was essentially an act of betrayal and the signatories were risking their lives and everything they had in case the independence had

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The Declaration of Independence is a document, mostly a new government, that was created to tell the People why the colonies wanted to be free from British rule. The intentions of this document was to state that the 13 colonies were no longer going to be in control by the British and they would become part of the United States. It was written July 4th, 1776 and it became a national holiday which we still celebrate. This document was so important because it contain many goals for the nation and morals in which we follow and also it says the major ideas that the Founders has about a government and it also has the argument colonist had in which they explain why they wanted to be free from British rule and the British king. The document was written

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The declaration of independence is a letter written by Thomas Jefferson. The declaration of independence says that the United States thirteen colonies were no longer under british rule. Instead they formed a new nation. The declaration of includes these grievances “ he has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices and the amount and paid their salaries” which basically means just government must have separation of powers with checks and balances. Another grievance says “He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.”

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This document allows the American colonists to see what freedom and rights they have as a community and a state. It states in the second paragraph, “ they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This explained to the Americans that they have guaranteed rights. That they have the ability to change the government. The Declaration spoke for the American colonists in giving them the voice to inform the British of their independence from them.

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